A survey is given of the investigation of the composition of petroleum as carried out by the American Petroleum Institute Research Project 6 from 1927 on.
The methods used in this work consist of physical processes of fractionation according to size and type of the constituents (distillation, adsorption, extraction, etc.), together with accurate measurements of the simple physical properties (boiling point, density, refractive index, freezing point, etc.). A list is included of the 118 hydrocarbons isolated from the gas, gasoline, kerosine and gas oil fractions of Ponca crude (Oklahoma), which is under investigation by the Project.
In connection with this work procedures have been developed for purifying and determining the purity of hydrocarbons. A list is given of 186 very pure samples which are at present reserved for loan through the API Research Project 44.
On donne un aperçu des recherches en ce qui concerne la constitution du pétrole, faites par 1'American Petroleum Institute, Research Project 6, depuis 1927.
Les méthodes appliquées dans ces recherches sont des procédés physiques de fractionnement selon les dimensions et le type des constituants (distillation, adsorption, extraction, etc.) et des mesures minutieuses des propriétés physiques simples (point d'ébullition, densité indice de réfraction, point de congé- lation, etc.).
L'article comprend une liste des I 18 hydrocarbures qu'on a isolés à partir des fractions de gaz, d'essence, de kérosène et de gasoil d'un brut de Ponca (Oklahoma) qui forme l'objet des études de ce Projet.
Pour les travaux en question on a développé des méthodes pour la purification et la détermination de la pureté des hydrocarbures. On a ajouté une liste de 186 échantillons de très grande pureté qui, en ce * American Petroleum Institute Research Project 6, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh 13, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Proceedings 3rd W.P.C., Section VI D. ROSSINI* moment, sont réservés à la circulation parmi les centres occupés de l'étude du research project 44 de l'API.
Petroleum is not only one of the most important natural resources of the world but also one of the most interesting anci intriguing ones. The bulk of any petroleum consists of hydrocarbon molecules of several different types and many different sizes. In the early days of the refining of this natural resource, the industry separated petroleum roughly according to size of molecules by the process of simple distillation. In this way there were produced a few broad f ractions of petroleum, such as gasoline, kerosine, gas oil, and lubricating oil. These products had properties sufficiently general to satisfy fairly well the requirements of a number of different services. But each broad fraction had a value of a given property that was the average of what were probably extreme
